(This story was updated at 1:20 AM.)
At a Thursday press conference, Strikeforce announced that the main event for a to-be-determined May date on Showtime will be headlined by Jake Shields vs. Robbie Lawler, a contest between the final welterweight and middleweight champions of EliteXC.
The bout will be at middleweight and was believed to be emanating from Seattle, WA, area, but according to Yahoo's Dave Doyle, actually may be relocated to the Midwest.
This will be the first fight for both men since the EliteXC collapse of late 2008. The 30-year-old Shields (22-4-1) was the organization's last Welterweight Champion, having won the belt last July via first-round submission over Nick Thompson.
The 10-year pro (seen above) brings an 11-fight win streak into the event with his last loss coming in December of 2004. He was originally slated to face Joe Riggs at Strikeforce's April Showtime event, which has now been postponed.
The 26-year-old Lawler (18-4-1) was EliteXC's last Middleweight Champion, winning the title from Murilo "Ninja" Rua via third-round TKO in September 2007. Lawler has fought twice since then, both times against Scott Smith—the last ending in a TKO victory for Lawler last July. The eight-year pro hasn't lost in his last six fights, dating back to September 2006.
Yours truly will have a feature on the fight for the May edition of FIGHT! Magazine.
Josh Nason—josh [at] ropesringandcage [dot com]—has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007 and joined up with Bleacher Report in 2008.
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